A Hiker's Proposal

We are truly soul-mates and I know we were meant to have found each other!

My girlfriend and I met online... We were both looking just to meet friends but we hit it off and here we are 5 years later!

We love to travel, and lived in AZ for 2 years. We are headed back there for our anniversary and I wanted some creative way to propose while hiking.

She's funny, adventurous, and very creative. She's extremely down to earth and a "up for anything" kind of gal.

She definitely likes creative, surprising, proposals, but when hiking you're right next to each other so it's hard to set something up to "stumble upon" or something like that.

Any suggestions would be great!

Dear AZ Hiker,

We love that you found each other! And that you started as friends is so important to us - after all, you're going to spend the rest of your lives together, so you better like each other! The mightiest oak starts as an acorn, so does love.

So exciting that you are ready to take this next step, and a hike in Arizona, a place you love, is a terrific symbol of taking life's path together. Arizona's Painted Desert is among our favorite places to explore, fyi:)

While you might think you are limited to what you can set up in advance, we have an idea for you!

Plan the hike with her. No need to mention a special occasion, or that it is your anniversary hike. Just an ordinary day, spending it together, doing something you both enjoy.

Do you each carry a backpack, or carry a small nap sack? Hope so!

Without her knowing, pack it with a mini bottle of ice cold champagne. (No need for ice - they make neoprene wine bottle cases that help keep it chilled.) Put in two paper cups, and a bag of trail mix - and you have the key ingredients to a romantic proposal and some snacks to keep you going.

We love spontaneity, and it sounds like you do, too. Enjoy your hike, share the scenery and feel free to reminisce. When you find a particularly beautiful spot, bend down to tie your shoe. Linger on the shoelace, until she turns to see what is taking you so long.

Since you're already on one knee, look up at her, and reach into your shirt, like something is itching your chest. "What is this?!" you ask, as, you pull something out of your shirt. It is a chain, with a ring on the end.

You have put the engagement ring on a chain, and have been wearing it around your neck the entire hike.

"I have been wearing this ring the whole day, right next to my heart, which is where I want you to be for the rest of my life."

This is our idea of a great conversation starter - we think that she'll be moved by the fact that you have worn the ring under your shirt the whole hike.

Pop the question then pull out the champagne and pop the cork. It would be great to have a single rose to hand to her as well.

The trick here is not to have the moment be over right there. If you're staying at a hotel, ask the staff there to set up your room with roses and a private room-service dinner for two after the hike.

If you're staying with friends or family, arrange a romantic dinner at a restaurant which you'll set up before hand with her favorite flowers on the table, a pre-planned menu that you'll arrange earlier in the day, and the best seat in the house.

It's the little touches (like ordering beforehand and making the effort to arrange things and plan the meal) that will make her swoon!

After dinner arrange something else, a picnic dessert? Rose petals on the bed? A luxurious bubble bath for two surrounded by candles?

The point we're trying to make is that the hike is only the start and a wonderful one at that tailored to the two of you. So if you want to make it really special for her (and it sounds like you do) don't end it there. It's not about the moment you ask her to marry you, it's about the DAY you ask her to marry you.

So start with the hike and getting the formalities of asking for her hand in marriage out of the way THEN think of all the wonderful surprises you can do to make the whole day extra special right up until she falls asleep that night.

Hopefully some of our AZ based readers will pipe in with an idea or two as well....

No matter what, we wish you both an amazing engagement an marriage, and write us back to let us know how it went!